God's Poem is You

Date: Saturday, June 20, 2026

Readings: Jeremiah 18 | Psalm 139:13-24

Jeremiah 18 takes us into a pottery studio, and the lesson God teaches there is one of the most honest and hopeful in the prophetic tradition. Jeremiah watches a potter reshape a marred vessel on the wheel and hears God say: “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” (Jeremiah 18:6). The clay doesn’t disqualify itself by being marred. The potter simply presses it back into shape and starts again. The sovereignty of God here is not cold and mechanical, but the creative, patient, purposeful authority of an artist who refuses to abandon His work.

This is precisely why Psalm 139:13-24 pairs so powerfully with today’s reading. “You knit me together in my mother’s womb… I am fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:13-14). The same hands that formed you in secret are the hands on the wheel. You are a work God is actively shaping. The potter image in Jeremiah anticipates Paul’s language in Ephesians 2:10: “We are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” The Greek word there is poiema. It’s where we get the word “poem.” You are God’s poem, God’s craftsmanship, still being written.

The fact that the clay was marred is the beginning of reshaping. Grace is not God lowering His expectations; it’s God rolling up His sleeves and getting back to work on what He loves…You!

Devotional Prompts:

Where in your life do you feel “marred” and what would it mean to surrender that part of yourself to the Potter’s hands rather than hiding it?
Psalm 139 insists that you were not accidentally formed, but were knit together with intention. How does that truth challenge any narrative of worthlessness or insignificance you carry?

Prayer: Potter God, we confess that we sometimes resist the reshaping because it’s uncomfortable or disorienting. Give us the faith to stay on the wheel, trusting that Your hands know what they are doing, and that the finished work is worth every pressing. Amen.